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“Once a Hero” is a film about veterans, made by veterans. The contemporary drama stars and was written by a Navy SEAL, Brett Jones, and producers Kasey Brown and Robert Wolfe are also veterans. Other veterans were involved too.
The film was directed by Tim Reischauer, who’s worked on films like “13 Going On 30,” a 2004 rom-com starring Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo, and the iconic TV series “Desperate Housewives.” After relocating from Los Angeles to Huntsville a few years ago, Reischauer connected with Jones and “Once a Hero” writer Isaiah Mitchell and composer Jeremy Price.
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It took about eight months to write the “Once a Hero” script. The film was shot in Huntsville over 15 days in mid-2018 with a cast of around 30 and a crew of about 15, almost all of whom are North Alabama based. The film is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Recently, I interviewed some of the people behind “Once a Hero” via email. Below are edited excerpts.
Where did the plot for “Once a Hero” originally come from? “An American war veteran battles PTSD, addiction, and ultimately homelessness when he uncovers a looming tragedy.” And what made you all want to write and tell this story?
Brett Jones (writer, actor): Isaiah (Mitchell, “Once a Hero” writer) and I worked on a documentary called “Homeless in Huntsville.” That experience was motivation to try and tell a story to a larger audience. The idea was to bring forth issues that we felt needed attention. All these issues are complex in their own right, but a good story has a way of cutting through complexities and making them personal to the viewer.
In your opinion, what does film/TV often get right about the plight of contemporary veterans? What do they usually get wrong?
Kasey Brown (producer): Movies and TV have over a number of years fell into a formula when it comes to telling the story of post service veterans. We are usually introduced to a regular guy who goes through some horrible event, and he brings this home where his family and friends all rally around him. Things are all better. Play the power-ballad. Fade to black.
The truth is, things get messy and in real life, families are affected and there is usually some collateral damage. Film as a storytelling medium has changed since the 1980s. The times of veterans coming home from an unpopular war with very little support have given way to telling remarkable stories of honor and sacrifice.
The modern era of storytelling is doing a better job of showing the viewer many different aspects of post military life. These can include adjustment issues, self-worth, health and well-being. Some veterans suffer combat-related injuries, including mental-health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and traumatic brain injury. In general, these issues are just now starting to see the light in film and be portrayed truthfully.
Who are some of your biggest inspirations as far as filmmakers go?
Tim Reischauer (director, producer): This is a very hard question since my tastes and experiences are all over the place. I love all cinema, but if I had to pick: Coen Brothers, Spike Lee, P.T. Anderson and Rob Reiner.
What were the biggest challenges in making “Once a Hero”? How did you overcome those challenges?
Jones: The single biggest challenge was money. It takes a lot of money to make a movie, even a low-budget independent film. It takes a ton of people and their talent to make it all come together. Most low-budget films cost between one- to five-million. We were able to do ours for a small fraction of that because we had amazing support from the Huntsville community. People believed in this project and wanted this story told.
What are some of the Huntsville area locations you shot at?
Jones: We had so many great locations. The Von Braun Center, Church Street Wine Shop, Purveyor Restaurant … Way too many to list. Locals will watch and recognize most of the locations.
In recent years, City of Huntsville leaders have made elevating and growing music here a big priority. Is the local film industry seeing some push too? If not, what do you think are some things that would help grow film here too like music is growing now?
Jeremy Price (composer/producer): There are really two ways to look at it. The first being, I feel like we need to find a mechanism to highlight all of the local production talent from cast, crew and post talent here. Offer incentives and show producers and location scouts that Huntsville talent can support large budget productions. The positive impact film productions can bring the local economy is why other cities invest the time and resources they do to keep them there.
The second is to get the community more involved and excited about filmmaking. We already have awesome people providing homegrown events like Alex Gibson and his team over at CinePros hosting the Rocket City Short Film Festival, or like Southern Fried Film Festival. I would think Huntsville has a great opportunity to host events on the scale of Birmingham’s Sidewalk. I do think there is a push already from within the local community of people that love doing this type of work.
What’s the process like for getting a film on Amazon Prime? How critical is that for independent filmmakers, getting picked up by a major streaming outlet?
Robert Wolfe (producer): Most indies and small-budget films like “Once a Hero” earn money on a per-view basis, so it is very important find traction on one or more of the large streaming services with an audience of millions. Along with operating capital, distribution is one of the toughest challenges that filmmakers face. Streaming devices have greatly changed the way we consume entertainment. We have access to vast libraries of music, TV and movies almost at will. There are dozens of streaming services looking for content to host on their platforms, but there is also an incredible amount of content being made to compete for available space. To get noticed you have to have a film that would appeal to Amazon, Netflix or Paramount subscribers in a sea of other films also looking to get noticed. An engaging story, quality crew to provide production value, and solid acting talent to help achieve this. A good distributor relationship is the final key. Once the product is finished, the distributor helps filmmakers assemble the trailer and marketing materials in a way that gets the interest of the streaming platforms.
Streaming is the new arthouse theater, as many people have noted. With the future of brick and mortar mainstream theaters is in real peril, because of economic and technology changes, is that as much a concern for independent filmmakers now, the future of theaters? Why or why not, you think?
J. Spencer (executive producer): There’s no equal to the impact of watching film on a theater screen. The cost of operating them will continue to reduce the availability. The convenience of watching what you want, when you want, from practically anywhere through streaming is going to seriously impact how many theaters survive. For the emotional impact of the big screen, I hope they remain viable. But for independent film, theatrical release is fairly rare. It’s expensive to create the marketing to bring the theater a return. Unless your topic can get a lot of publicity that creates demand, independent films might land only a few theaters, for a few screenings.
How do you hope “Once a Hero” impacts those who watch the movie? What do you hope is going through their heads after the movie ends?
Reischauer: This is an “every man or woman” story, in that we can see a lot of ourselves in these characters. Their dreams, struggles, their striving to make sense of day-to-day challenges. In “Once a Hero,” we see a seemingly normal family and how things can change so quickly to send their lives in a totally different direction. I would hope that it moves us all to recognize how fragile life is, how quickly things can change, and that there is always hope. I would also hope that we look at the homeless more compassionately, knowing that they are someone’s brother, sister, daughter, son, etc., that have “slipped out of touch. Especially the homeless veterans, which on any one day numbers around a heartbreaking 50,000 in the U.S. My greatest hope is that people will get involved in discussions. Problems get solved that way.
